It wasn’t funny, but it was of the few moments when Kevin Simpson had felt compelled to laugh in 2002.

A year and a half earlier, Kevin was working on the oil rigs of the Mexican Gulf in Louisiana, USA.  A loose metal plate fell on him from 90ft in the air, breaking his back and legs, ankles, ribs and a shoulder, rupturing his spleen and puncturing his lung. 

He survived, but his life was hanging in the balance, having gone into cardiac arrest as he was being helicoptered to the emergency room.  He spent the next few months lapsing in and out of a morphine-induced haze, too heavily drugged to stay awake but in too much pain to sleep. 

That Kevin survived was a miracle.  He spent twelve weeks in hospital in America before a medical jet transferred him to Glasgow.  His left ankle had to be bolted and pinned onto his leg, as any bone that existed to hold it together had been demolished. 

He had to wear a back brace and leg callipers to keep his body straight, and it was seven months before he could even stand upright with the aid of a supportive machine.  His doctors had unsurprisingly uttered to him those fateful words ‘You’ll never walk again’. 

So when he was receiving treatment at the spinal injuries unit in Glasgow, and a fellow patient asked him if he wanted to play tennis, Kevin laughed.  Tennis!  Was he mad?

“That’s how naive I was,” says Simpson.  “But then he jumped into his tennis chair and just started playing.  It looked brilliant.”

And so began the incredible journey of Kevin Simpson.  Practically paralysed in 2001, he is now one of 16 Scottish athletes travelling to Beijing to represent Team GB at the Paralympics in wheelchair tennis. 

“2004 was when it really started happening,” Simpson says, speaking to In The Winning Zone over a coffee at his training base in the Gannochy Sports Centre at the University of Stirling.  “Initially I just saw wheelchair tennis as good exercise and fitness work.  I could get in the chair and push myself around.

“I played a few tournaments and built it up.  I started playing in the British tournaments, one or two a year.  It was a good laugh, very sociable. I wasn’t working and needed less physio, so I had more time on my hands. 

“In 2004, pre-Athens, I saw the guys getting ready to go to the Paralympics, and that inspired me.  I wanted to do it, so I put my mind to it.  It was lots of little steps rather than one big one.  I never would have imagined I would be at the Paralympics four years later.  I had never played tennis before my accident, I just played football and golf.  I’m glad I found it – it’s my career now!”

The rules to wheelchair tennis are much the same as regular tennis, except the ball is allowed to bounce twice before a player must strike it.  The game isn’t strictly professional, but Kevin can afford to play full-time thanks to support of Team GB from the Tennis Foundation and Lloyds TSB.  But Kevin views himself as a professional athlete in every other aspect, and has had to make the same sacrifices as those who are being paid would be expected to make.

“The way the game is set up now, I would regard myself as a professional, though there is no-one can make a living from it.  Holidays and socialising has been pushed aside – I’ve had to sacrifice family and seeing my pals, even going to the football!

“I’m training more, and I’ve been playing in more tournaments so I haven’t had time for much else.  It’s all worth it though.  The minute I qualified for Beijing it was all worth it.”

Kevin will compete in the men’s singles and doubles.  In the singles, the top draw is Japanese ace Shingo Kunieda, the current world champion and hot favourite to win gold in China.  Simpson places Kunieda amongst the top athletes on the planet, and someone he looks up to.

“He’s so dedicated.  When he comes off court he is straight onto the practice court, even though he’s the top player in the world.  Every day he batters down 100 serves.  I would expect him to go the whole way in Beijing, so I want to avoid him!”

In the doubles, Kevin will team up with Englishman Alex Jewitt.  The dynamic is different in wheelchair doubles, and there is much more interchanging of positions than one would see in able-bodied tennis.

“We move in and out and cover each other, rather than one staying at the front and one at the back.  We’re always looking to attack.  Doubles is very tactical, cat and mouse, trying to split your opponents, exploiting gaps.  Doubles is all about consistency.  There aren’t as many winning shots being hit, you have to be patient.  There are more rallies.”

So what are his ambitions for Beijing?

“Well, being realistic my gold medal was just to qualify.  But now that I’ve qualified I’m going to go there aiming to win, whoever it is I play.  I’m determined to win the first round.  It is a draw of 64, unseeded, so I could be facing anyone.  So my aim is the last 32, and if I can get through that I could be coming against one of the top players. 

“I’ll be going out there to play my best tennis, enjoy myself and take everything in.  I’ve worked hard for it.  Ultimately the experience of competing in a Paralympic Games before London is important as well.”

Nowadays, even though he has no feelings in his right leg and can’t move his left foot, as it is bolted fast to his leg, Kevin chooses a single crutch as his preferred mode of getting around.  He has to watch the ground to ensure his numb foot is on solid ground.  Always the fighter, he is determined to lead as normal a life as possible, and that means walking whenever he can.  But the wheelchair is the way forward for his sporting career. 

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